Vacuum-cleaner nozzle



Nov. 25, 1930. s. H. RIPPEY VACUUM CLEANER NOZZLE Filed Dec;

a W M Patented Nov. 25, 1930 APATENT' OFFICE SAMUEL HOWARD RIPPEY, 0FPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA VACUUM-CLEANER nozznn Application filedDecember 13, 1927. Serial No. 239,652.

This invention relates to a vacuum cleaner and particularly to theconstruction of a nozzle for a vacuum cleaner which will produce resultsnot obtainable by those heretofore in use.

One type of vacuum cleaner which is upon the market has a nozzle in theform of an elongated casing having a slot formed in its I lower end, andtapering from the slot to an exit connected with a fan for producing asuction adapted to draw dirt from a rug. At first such nozzles wereinadeso that the open inlet assageway would be completely covered y thesrug,which was drawn thereagainst to seal the same,-the object of this designbeing to cause air to flow through the rug and thereby remove dirt bothwithin or under the rug and on top of the rug. It was found, however,that while fine dust would be removed from the body and surface of therug, the air passing through the rug did not have suflicient velocity orthe proper direction to remove surface dirt consisting of threads,hairs, lint, or the like, since such dirt wouldapparently not be raised'by the slowly moving current of air. In order to facilitate the removalof such surface dirt, the walls of the nozzle about the slot were cutaway to provide passageways through which the air would be drawn acrossthe sur-' face of the rug at high velocity, which localized currents ofair would remove hair, thread or the like from the surface of the rug. A

most effective structure of this kind was found to be one in which suchpassageways were provided at the ends of the slot, so that they could bemoved into corners and remove dirt therefrom.. Although this type of noz.zle, as has been stated, would remove more symmetry.

remaining, either by an old-fashioned carpet sweeper or by a brush. Anewer type of vacuum cleaner, f[put on the market primarily to avoid thedi culty inherent in the vacuum cleaner 'just described, is provided notonlywith a suction nozzle but also with a rotat ing brush, anddependence is placed on the brush to remove the lint which is left bythe suction nozzle. This brush is detrimental. to. rugs, however, sinceit not only removes surface lint but also portions of the fibre andconsequently this type of vacuum cleaner has not been generally adopted,but dealers of rugs and housekeepers generally prefer to use that typeof cleaner described above, which will clean dirt which is ground-into arug, although it leaves much surface dirt, the surface dirt beingsubsequently removed by careful brushing. v

It is the object of the present invention to adapt a nozzle ofa vacuumcleaner of the first type described to enable it to pick up, withoutfail, surface dirt from a rug or carpet being cleaned.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of a the improved nozzle;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the nozzle partly broken away to show theinterior thereof;

prefered form of and tially broken away on its vertical plane of Thenozzle, which is similar in general shape and appearance to an ordinarytype, is

designated at 2, and comprises a casing tapering from an elongated lowerslotted opening 4 to an exit 6, which is adapted to be connected bysuitable means of the ordinary variety to a, suction fan which maybeeither electrically or mechanically driven. At the ends of slot 4 thewalls of the casing are notched to provide passageways 8 and there isalso provided in the front wall at the central portion of the slot asimilar passageway Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the nozzle par- 10. Passageways 8 are ofthe type commonly provided in this form of nozzle and the air passinghorizontally therethrough over the surface of the rug, becauseofitshighvelocity, will effectively dislodge and remove surface dirt,the removal being proportional to the velocity. Provision of two suchpassage ways at opposite ends of the slot will ordinaril produce twostreams of air and dirt traveing in opposite directions, which, ifuncontrolled, will meet each other and air through the middle of theslotabout the center of the nozzle, forming eddies in which the air willbe of reduced velocity and accordingly, the dirt will drop of its ownweight back upon the floor. In the present invention, interference ofthe two currents of air is prevented by guiding the currents directlyfrom the passageways to the exit, or at least to such a distance towardthe exit that the velocity of the incoming air will increase, owing tothe reduced cross section of the nozzle, to such an extent that hair andother relatively heavy dirt will be carried out through the exit to thefan.

In the modification of the invention disclosed, vanes 12 are shownforming conduits 14 leading from inlet passageways'8 directly to theexit. A similar conduit is formed adjacent passageway 10 by thevertically extending vanes 16. It will be readily understood thatinterference of the currents of air entering the passageways 8 and 10with each other, or with the current of air entering through the mainportions of slot 4, will be effectively prevented. It will also be clearthat vanes 12 or 16 may terminate short of the exit so that the extendto a point at which the velocity 0 air passing outwardly from the nozzleis sufliciently great, notwithstanding an interference, to carry alongwith it relatively heavy. dirt.

The invention of the conduits described for guiding air carrying surfacelitter from passageways to exit constitute a further imrovement invacuum cleaner nozzle design y roviding means for making available localy for detaching surface litter a higher velocity current at the intakesthan the velocity due to the suction in the usual single chamber nozzlecasing which is drawing air through the large slot area. This may beaccomplished by so proportioning the several air channels as to applymore or less of the suction power of the fan to each channel as desiredfor its best individual functioning,

' and by communicating through the channels to the intake the velocityof the exit, uninfluenced by the varying velocity and pressurerequirements of other parts of the nozzle. The application of theconduitsfor guiding the airconveying the dirt to the exit constitutes acomplete invention, and the posnozzle.

pose first stated, but which may be used in connection therewith torender the action more effective.

As shown in Fig. 2, it will be observed that vane 12 is continued downto the extreme bottom of the nozzle and that the same is true of vane16, so that between each vane 12 and the adjacent vane 16, the portionof the slot 4 is bounded by walls, the outer edges of which contactalong their whole extent with the rug, so that the slot 4 is heresealed, and any air entering therethrough must be drawn up through therug, where it will dislodge and carry along dirt ground into the rug orlying thereunder. It might be considered that the provision ofpassageways 8 and 10 through which air is relatively free to move wouldto such an extent break the partial vacuum existing in the nozzle as toprevent suction of air through a heavy rug. It is found, however, inpractice that such breaking of the partial vacuum is so slight that thenozzle acts almost as effectively with the passageways as without, indrawing dirt through the rug. However, since to prevent excessive wearupon the rug, a lower velocity of flow of air may be desirable, or alarge number of passageways provided which would break the vacuum to aconsiderable degree, the partial vacuum in the nozzle may be maintainedeven at a low air velocity by providing means for closing the conduitsleading from the passageways so that the full suction of the fan may beapplied to drawdirt from the body of the rug. One such means isdiagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 2 in which 18 is a valve which maybe turned either to open or close conduit 14 by means of a knob 20extending outside the A similar means might, of course, be provided inthe conduit formed between vanes 16, and such valve might be operated bymeans located on the handle of the vacuum cleaner, or might be replacedby slides or plugs similarly actuated, or slides or flaps external tothe passageways.

It may be desirable in some similar manner to increase the flow of airthrough the passageways by decreasing the flow through the slot.

In order to bring out graphically the portions of the nozzle which areadapted to pick up sprface dirt, it may be desirable to provide arrows,such as 22, showing location of the passageways and the direction ofpassage of air through the nozzle from the passageways.

v The passageway 10 is provided in the center of the nozzle since it isfound that this is a desirable position for a passageway because of thefact that the normal way of moving the .nozzle to pick up visible dirtis'to move the same directly over the dirt. Although passageways 8 willeffectively pick up dirt and; are necessary to remove dirt from corners,it is generally necessary for the operator to move the nozzle more orlesssidewise and stop at each individual particle of dirt to insure itsremoval; By primarily using passageway to remove surface dirt, cleaningis found to be more readily accomplished, since stopping ofthe cleaneris unnecessary.

Although there has been illustrated a preferred and practical form ofnozzle, it will be understood that the conduits need not necessarily beformed as disclosed, by means of vanes, but may consist of passagewaysformed in the nozzle casting, or might even consist of separate pipesoutside of the suction nozzle proper. In any event, the intake openingdesigned to draw air through the surface being cleaned will have itsboundinlg walls substantially entirely in contact wit the surface, whilethe opening designed to clear the surface from surface dirt will bearranged to draw a current of air across the surface being cleaned.Furthermore sizes, proportions, number and locations of passageways andconduits are not limited by the arrangement illustrated but may be ofvarying design to meet varying cleaner requirements. Such modificationsare within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A vacuum cleanernozzle having an exit arranged for connection to asuction means, an elongated entrance, and partitions within the nozzledividing the elongated entrance to form two end intake openings and atleast one intermediate opening, the intermediate opening having itsbounding walls substantially in oneplane and arranged to contactsubstantially throughout their extent with a surface being cleaned, andeach of the end openings being substantially in said plane and openingin the direction of said plane above said plane to draw a'current of airacross the surface being cleaned, the partitions acting to lead aircurrents from said openings independently towards the exit to preventinterference with each other.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, atPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, on this 26th day of November, 1927.

SAMUEL HOWARD RIPPEY,

